FAU Researcher Receives National
Institutes of Health Grant to Support Search for Novel
Therapeutics against HIV

BOCA
RATON, FL (March 28, 2011)—Worldwide
over 30 million adults and 2.5 million children are infected with
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV infection in humans is considered
pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and this year
alone an additional 2.6 million people will be newly infected.
Without treatment, HIV infected individuals develop AIDS and have a
life expectancy of less than five years. To date, more than 25
million people have died of AIDS, and two million more are expected
to die this year. With recent setbacks in the development of
vaccines, the high mutation rate of HIV and new multi-drug
resistant strains of the disease appearing with growing frequency,
there is an urgent need to develop new drugs. Massimo Caputi,
Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical science in the Charles E.
Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, has
received a competitive grant of $433,500 from the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National
Institutes of Health to further his research on identifying novel
therapeutics for HIV.
HIV is a virus that causes AIDS by damaging the immune system cells
until the immune system can no longer fight off other infections
that it would usually be able to prevent. HIV cannot reproduce on
its own, and instead infects the cells of a living organism in
order to replicate.
“Antiretroviral drugs used today to treat HIV infected
individuals cannot completely eliminate the virus, and the majority
of these drugs target viral proteins,” said Caputi.
HIV uses a multitude of host cellular proteins to replicate
efficiently. Caputi and his colleagues are focused on the
identification and characterization of these cellular factors, and
have already identified more than a dozen cellular proteins that
are required by the virus in order to replicate efficiently.
Because cellular therapeutic targets do not undergo a high rate of
mutation, the emergence of resistant viral strains is unlikely.
Identifying these cellular factors provides hope for developing new
therapeutics.
“We are testing the possibility of obstructing the activity
of these proteins to limit viral replication, and also exploring a
novel set of technologies to further characterize the mechanism by
which HIV replicates within human cells,” said Caputi.
HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, contact
with an infected person’s blood, from mother to child, use of
infected blood products, and injecting drugs. The majority of
people with HIV live in the developing world where AIDS is the
leading cause of death. The total number of people living with HIV
continues to rise in high-income countries as well. In the U.S.,
AIDS is the fifth leading cause of death among all adults aged 25
to 44. Urban areas with lower socioeconomic standards are hit
the most by this epidemic. South Florida with the metropolitan
areas of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach has the highest
infection rate in the country.

–
FAU –

About
Florida Atlantic University:
Florida
Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its
doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. In
commemoration of its origin, FAU is celebrating its 50th
anniversary throughout 2011. Today, the University serves more
than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven
campuses and sites. FAU’s world-class teaching and
research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the College
of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the
College of Education, the College of Engineering
& Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L.
Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of
Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High
Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit
www.fau.edu.

*Statistics
Sources: UNAID (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.